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Preparing for hypermodal freight hauling

If you think the self-driving truck is a far-fetched concept, get a load of this one: “hypermodal transportation,” which purportedly will combine drones, self-driving trucks, and the Internet of Things (IoT) to bring “Internet-like speeds and efficiencies” to global transportation and logistics networks, “saving time and trillions of dollars,” according to Lux Research.

"The Internet of Things is at the stage of a dial-up modem in the evolution of the Net, but as it evolves, intermodal and intelligent technologies will create a hypermodal system that moves not just goods but supply, demand and means of production," stressed Mark Bünger, Lux’s vice president and lead author of the firm’s report.

So what kinds of changes might this “hypermodal” transportation and logistics concept foster? Here are Lux’s projections:

More capable “smart” shipping containers. With door sensors, GPS [global positioning systems], and RFID [radio frequency identification] transponders, such “smart” containers will be better able to detect vibration, temperature and chemicals, incorporate refrigeration and be connected to the computing cloud to provide more detailed and frequent real-time alerts.

The creation of distributed manufacturing. Production and logistics are closely linked, so “distributed manufacturing” goes hand-in-hand with hypermodal transportation, according to Lux’s research. Small, local factories using flexible machinery such as 3D printers, flexible components, and multi-skilled labor, will achieve economies of “scope,” rather than scale.

Frankly, this all seems to still be more science fiction than science reality at the moment, to me at least. But at the pace of change now occurring in the freight world, anything is possible – even hypermodal transport, where computers will play an outsized role in moving everything. Let’s hope all those ones and zeros are up to the task.